You can make art to address any political subject, and the debate over climate change is certainly no exception, as a new futuristic installation by a Los Angeles architect proves.

In Copenhagen, where the United Nations’ summit on global warming is currently underway, artists unveiled on Monday what they are calling “The CO2 Cube,” a three-story site-specific artwork that was designed by L.A.-based architect Christophe Cornubert.

The structure, pictured, sits on St. Jørgens Lake, near the city’s Tycho Brahe Planetarium. Its creators said the cube represents the space that one metric ton of carbon dioxide would occupy if stored at standard atmospheric pressure — specifically, a space that is the equivalent of 27 feet cubed, or 19,683 cubic feet.

The size of the installation is crucial: The average citizen of an industrialized country releases one metric ton of carbon dioxide per month, according to a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“A lot of the conference is buttoned up and behind closed doors. So we wanted a way to reach out to the public,” said Mia Hanak, executive director of San Francisco-based Millennium ART, which is one of the organizations involved with the cube’s creation.